Over 100 miles of Britain's historic canals and waterways will soon make their way onto Google's Street View project as the UK Canals and River Trust has managed to borrow one of the company's Trekker backpacks for the project.

The 4-foot, 40-pound photographic backpack will capture the 200-year-old canals in their full 360-degree glory at a rate of one photo every 2.5 seconds. The trek will begin with the Regents Canal in London this week. On this journey, the group will capture the 3.25-mile-long Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire as well as the Grand Union Canal in Stoke Bruerne.

The Trust's Wendy Hawk said: "We're delighted to be the first people in the UK to get the Trekker on our backs - it's fantastic that our 200-year old network is being given a different lease of life thanks to cutting edge, 21st-century technology. The footage we get will allow millions of people from all over the world to see our canals, rivers and towpaths, and will hopefully encourage some people to make a trip to see them."